Home maintenance Archives - Crosswinds - NEWLY BUILT HOMES IN KYLE, TX

As the leaves begin to fall from the trees, it’s important for homeowners to spend some time cleaning up for a healthy yard come spring.

Here are a few autumn essentials when it comes to keeping your yard looking good.

The Right Tools for the Job

Whether it’s spring clean-up, summer maintenance, or fall prep, having the right yard tools for the job makes all the difference. When it comes to fall yard work, there’s one tool that is an absolute must – a rake. In regards to rakes, the old adage “bigger is better” applies. A rake with a larger spread will allow you to grab more leaves with each stroke. Chances are that your local hardware store will have a variety to choose from.

Another popular fall yard tool is the leaf blower. Leaf blowers tend to come in both electrical, battery-operated, and gas-powered varieties. Because they can be loud and kick up a lot of dust, it’s a good idea to wear both ear protection and a dust respirator to guard your ears and lungs.

Rake Like a Pro

If you have a lot of trees on your property then you’re going to want to use some strategy with your leaf raking. Rather than filling up 20 or 30 giant garbage bags with leaves, consider using a Bagster or a large tarp. This will allow you to easily drag the leaves to the curb or your compost pile for fresh garden compost in the spring. Work smarter, not harder, as the saying goes.

The Final Mow

Before you retire your mower to the shed for the winter, be sure to give your lawn one final mow. You’ll want to wait until nearly all of the leaves have fallen off the trees, you’re finished raking, and your grass goes dormant. This typically happens around late November or early December.

Set your mower height a bit lower than you normally would in the summer – around 2.5–3 inches. This height won’t weaken the root system and will help the nutrients from leaf decomposition better get into the soil.

Don’t Neglect the Roof

It’s not just the lawn that needs some leaf maintenance in the fall; your gutters and roof will probably need some attention, too. Leaves that remain on a roof can trap water and contribute to ice that leads to roof deterioration. It’s a good idea to blow the leaves off the roof (or hire somebody if you don’t like heights) once they’ve fallen from the trees.

The same goes for gutters, too. They should be cleaned out of leaves and twigs to allow the water to flow out of the gutters without blockage during winter months.

Prune and Trim

Last but not least, you may want to prune any out-of-control or dead tree branches once the leaves have fallen off. Especially if they hang over your house. Fallen tree branches due to strong storm winds can do serious damage to a roof, and the best defense against costly roof repairs is a good offense.

A good-looking yard can make a beautiful home look that much better. If you’re in the market for a new home, reach out to us to learn more about the master-planned Crosswinds community.

The best thing about buying a new home in Kyle’s Crosswinds Community is that everything works and runs smoothly. You don’t have to wonder if the house started having problems under a previous owner. It’s a clean slate.

The joy of homeownership also requires doing basic home maintenance tasks. Spending a few minutes doing these tasks and learning the basics will stave off bigger, more expensive problems in the long-run. It also extends the life of your home and keeps utility bills as low as possible.

Here are the most important basics to know that will help your new home last for decades to come.

Electricity

The first thing to find is your circuit-breaker box and switches. It’s typically in the garage. Check the switches to see if they have labels showing you which controls what part of the house. If there are no labels, ask your home builder.

Knowing where the breaker box is and which switch to … well … switch comes in handy when the power goes out in one area of your home. It’s actually a good thing the power went off because something tripped the switch. The power turning off is a safety measure to prevent potential problems. Most of the time, flipping the switch fixes the problem.

You may notice outlets in the kitchen and bathroom that features red and black buttons. The black button is a test button. It deactivates the outlet. The red is the reset button.

Say you’re using the hairdryer and it suddenly stops working. You won’t need to go to the circuit-breaker box to fix this. Just press the red (reset) button and the hairdryer should work again.

Water

Just like you want to know the location of your circuit-breaker box and switches, you also want to locate your water valves in case you ever have to shut off the water. Typically, you can find valves under the sink or behind appliances. Or follow the hose to the valve.

This one tip will save you loads of money and headaches. When you spot a leak or a flood, turn the valve to the right (clockwise) to shut it off. The sooner you do it, the less water will get out and do damage.

After shutting off the water, drain the residual water where the valve feeds. Go about doing the repairs. As soon as you finish and verify everything works, turn the valve to the left (counter-clockwise) to restore the water supply. Open the faucet associated with the valve to let out any air.

Air

For new homes in Kyle, you’ll want to replace the air filter more frequently in the beginning. Things like drywall dust take time to settle. Right after moving in, change the filters every two weeks for a few months. Then, you can switch to replacing the filters every three months.

It makes a huge difference in the utility bill. The more filled the filter is, the harder your air conditioning unit will work and drive up the cost.

Toilets

You don’t need to have every tool under the sun as soon as you move into your new home. It’s fine to keep adding to your collection over time.

These are the first tools you want to have on hand:

Plunger
Auger
Bucket
Rubber gloves

It’s not a matter if, but a matter of when a clogged toilet will happen. And the plunger will do the trick most of the time. Sometimes the situation requires something stronger and that’s where the auger will come to the rescue.

Before you plunge, evaluate the water to determine its chances of overflowing. If it looks likely, turn off the valve near the toilet. Grab the plunger for this. Remove half of the water from the toilet, make a tight seal with the plunger, and plunge several times. If the water goes down, give it one more plunge. Turn on the valve and flush the toilet.

Still backed up? Time to bring in the auger. Insert it into the toilet and slowly crank it to the right (clockwise) until it’s tight. Turn the crank in reverse (counter-clockwise) for a little bit and then crank forward as far as you can. All good? Now, crank in reverse while pulling backward. This should solve the problem. Test it by flushing the toilet several times.

Bonus Home Maintenance Tip

Nowadays, you can download most manuals from the internet. This is the time to look up all your appliances and pick up the manuals for each. Store them together in a folder on your hard drive.

You may have some print manuals. Store them in one place where you know you will find them. These manuals prove useful when you run into a problem or need to replace a part. They let you know exactly what part you need to order.

If you encounter a problem not covered here, just do a search for home maintenance solutions and videos. You’ll find a how-to video for almost everything. Also, open your phone’s app store and search for home maintenance apps. Many nifty checklists and references are available to help you with home maintenance.

Now that you know where everything is located and bought the tools, treat yourself! Or maybe you’re thinking about looking at new homes in Kyle? Come explore the Crosswinds Community with its diversity of amenities.

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